Earthquakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon is a bottom-line sort of guy. The only thing that matters is results. A team is what the scoreboard says at the end of the game.

So nobody has to remind Cannon that this hasn’t been a good year as the Earthquakes reach the season’s halfway point tonight with a crucial match at Real Salt Lake stuck in the basement of Major League Soccer’s Western Conference.

Yet despite a 3-8-3 record and the fact that the Earthquakes’ defense has been shaky, the goalkeeper doesn’t believe he has played poorly. Yes, there are some goals he would like to have back. But Cannon also thinks there wasn’t much he could do to prevent many of the balls from finding the back of the net.

“The frustrating part for me is when you feel like you’re playing well and goals are still being scored,” Cannon said. “There are just a lot of little things that have gone wrong. It really has been a team thing. I feel like I’m finally playing comfortably and confidently, and we’re still not getting the results — especially on the road.”

That will have to change, starting against Real Salt Lake (5-6-4), if the Earthquakes intend to make a playoff push. The defense has stiffened in the past month, which helps explain the team’s current 2-1-1 run. But the Earthquakes also are riding a 16-game road winless streak and will have to play tonight without star midfielder Darren Huckerby, who continues to nurse a thigh injury.

“It’s a big game,” Coach Frank Yallop said. “We can’t lose. A tie would be OK. But a win would be terrific. It took us a while, but we’re starting to get it together now. We’ve put ourselves in this situation, so we can’t make excuses. But now we have to win some games.”

Cannon, the Los Altos native who is one of the team’s most recognizable players, has been fielding questions for weeks about what’s wrong. The defense, after giving up the fourth-fewest goals in MLS last season as an expansion team, was supposed to be a strong point. It hasn’t.

And with Cannon’s goals-against average soaring to 1.93 this season — far above his career 1.33 statistic — some fingers have been pointed at him.

Wrong place, Yallop said, explaining that soccer isn’t like hockey. On the ice, if an opponent gets off an uncontested shot, there’s a reasonable expectation that the goalie still should make the save. But in soccer, when an attacker gets loose in the box, a goalkeeper often has little chance because there’s just too much real estate to cover.

He can be particularly vulnerable on set pieces. The Earthquakes have yielded an astounding seven goals already on corner and free kicks this season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. A year ago, San Jose didn’t give up one until the second-to-last game of the season.

Yallop and General Manager John Doyle have been making wholesale changes to the defender corps in the effort to fix the problem. The tinkering could continue tonight with the expected return of Jason Hernandez from injury and the possibility of midfielder Ramiro Corrales moving to left back.

“Everyone always looks at the goalkeeper,” Yallop said. “If they were scoring from 30 yards out and Joe’s not making those saves, then we’ve got a problem. But the goals are coming from close in and on set plays. Collectively, we have to do better.”

Meanwhile, Cannon chooses his words carefully. He is wary of appearing like he’s throwing teammates under the soccer bus. But he’s also honest enough to say the team can demonstrate an unsettling lack of passion and heart.

“There are times when the effort is not there from some individuals,” Cannon, a two-time MLS goalkeeper of the year who was part of the Earthquakes’ 2001 title squad, said. “The reason why the old teams based in San Jose were so good was because of a blue-collar mentality. That has to be where it all starts. I think you see it in the set pieces. You have to be willing to do anything to prevent goals.”

Cannon, 34, knows what it’s like to experience a long season. His most difficult came in 2007 with Los Angeles during David Beckham’s first MLS season. Despite all the hype and expectations, the Galaxy didn’t make the playoffs.

“I learned then that it does no good to get depressed and down,” he said. “You just have to work harder.”

He’s hoping the product of that effort will be a breakthrough road victory tonight.

“We’re not playing up to our potential,” Cannon added. “There’s still more than enough time to turn things around. But we all know what’s on the line.”

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